Nightmare
by S. J. Reneau
Summary: One shot. One does not simply get over a traumatic experience in a day. There are scars to deal with...and dreams are one of the ways in which scars can resurface.


**Disclaimer: Characters and setting © Disney/Pixar**

_ It's impossible to see more than a few meters in the fog. From what he can see, however, it looks as though he's in a rather familiar forest. He can't quite place when he had been in this forest before, though, nor where it is._

_He walks through the undergrowth, fully suited and helmet up. Despite the thermal suit covering him up to his neck, he's still getting goose bumps. Is it because of that nagging feeling he's getting, the feeling that something is watching his every move?_

_"Sentry 1?" he calls out, looking over his shoulder. There is nothing behind him. No Sentry 1. No sensors or spot lights. He glances around, trying to peer into the fog as a feeling of paranoia starts welling up in his chest._

_Why had he called for Sentry 1 anyway? The robot was deactivated, its battery drained by NOS-4-A2 back on...on..._

_Oh no._

_Everything around him suddenly takes on a sickly green glow, even his suit. He knows what is causing that glow. He doesn't want to see what is causing that glow._

_He looks._

_Up above in the sky that he couldn't see before now, a large moon hangs low and close, casting a green light on everything below._

_No no no no no that shouldn't be there!_

_A high-pitched howl suddenly shatters the silence, drowning out his startled gasp. It's close, it sounds close, but he can't figure where it's coming from. He starts backing up, eyes darting this way and that, trying to get a glimpse of something, anything, that will betray the presence of-_

_There!_

_In the bushes directly in front of him, two glowing orbs of red light glare out at him. A low robotic growl fills the air, the vibrations reaching through his suit and jostling his organs._

_He runs._

_He stumbles over upturned roots and smacks low-hanging branches out of the way, not knowing where he is going, not caring, as long as it is away from that THING. But no matter how fast he runs, he can hear it right behind him, talons tearing into the earth, fangs snapping together with jarring clangs, growls clawing their way into his ears._

_His breaths soon become ragged and harsh and his legs grow heavier with each step. No no no he can't be tired now not now just a little farther he's almost there he's almost...where?_

_He trips, falls, catches himself on a large tree and uses the momentum to swing around to the other side. He presses himself against the bark, gasping for air (he can't catch his breath why can't he catch his breath) and listening for the growls. It has stopped, too, the growls coming from one spot for a few minutes before slowly moving to his left. He steps to his right in response, trying to keep the tree between him and it. About halfway around the tree the growling stops._

_Slowly, hesitantly, he steps away from the tree, eyes glued to the direction the growls were last coming from. He backs up ten steps and finds himself in a clearing. Still no growling._

_His heart beat slows and he begins to relax, now sure that it is gone. He swallows, his throat dry, and turns around and finds himself staring right into two glowing red eyes._

_With a cry of surprise he flings himself back and finds himself on the ground, the beast towering over him, fangs and claws stained with a dark fluid (blood? hydraulic fluids? did he want to know?) and eyes boring into his very soul. He lies there, paralyzed with terror, as the beast opens its jaws and roars, and then suddenly he's scrambling to his feet in a surprising burst of energy._

_ He runs three steps before something grabs at his feet and yanks them backward, sending him tumbling back to the ground. He twists around to look and sees wires wrapped around his ankles, leading back to the beast. Its features twist upwards into a victorious sneer as it slowly starts to reel him closer like a fish._

_ He digs his fingers into the ground, trying to get some kind of purchase to pull away, but the dirt is too soft and comes up too easily. Several clanking sounds reach his ears and he turns back to the beast._

_ Its chest, its torso, its arms, its legs, even its lower jaw, opening up and revealing a mass of writhing wires within its shell. The wires slow for a second and then lash out and cover him, shattering his helmet, ripping off his suit, wrapping themselves around his limbs and plunging right into his body. He can see his skin crawl as the wires snake around underneath and oh cosmos it was dragging him in make it stop MAKE IT STOP._

_ And then suddenly he is lifted up off the ground, and the light from the moon disappears as the shell of the beast closes around him with a clash of finality. The wires within him dig even deeper, each splitting into hundreds more and puncturing his organs and corrupting him from the inside out._

_ He screams._

_ And it is not a human scream, but a metallic bestial one, that bursts from his throat._


End file.
